Luminous Hope
by MysteryGal5
Summary: After Thanos' snap, Tony is drifting off in space with little time left. Defeated and drained, he knows that he is going to die. However, something knocks on the window. Tony looks over and sees a woman right outside his ship, dressed in red and blue and outlined in a golden glow. (Avengers Endgame Prequel, OS)


**Me: *has fanfic ideas that have been ideas for years and are still ideas* / Also Me: *writes this idea that I came up with a few days ago in the span of a few hours***

 **I literally spent too much time looking at pictures of Brie Larson and her fiancé. That is oddly where this idea came from.**

 **Also, I read some people's thoughts on whether Carol or Pepper was going to save Tony from space. My Pepperony heart wants to say it's Pepper, but I genuinely believe that it's going to be Carol.**

 ** _Copyright_** **\- I do not own any of these characters.**

* * *

Luminous Hope:

 _"_ _When I drift off, I'll dream about you. It's always you."_

Those words haunt him, repeat in his mind over and over again. He hopes that, somehow, Pepper was spared from Thanos' snap just to hear what he had to say and because she wouldn't have deserved to die like this. Nobody did. He lost track of how long it's been since he recorded that message but it feels like it's close to his end. And now, he's going to die in the one place he feared the most: outer space.

Maybe this was his destiny, the end of his hero's journey. But what kind of hero's journey was this if they didn't win? The hero didn't save the day. Instead, the hero let down everyone including and especially himself. In that case, maybe he deserves to die here. _This is what you get for losing the battle of your life, right? No longer being allowed to live your life._

Dr. Strange said that this was the only way to victory, to let Thanos snap half the universe out of existence and let him grow in his imperial rule. And then from there, the good guys will somehow win. Feeling drained and the most defeated he ever has, Tony doesn't see a way out of this. It may have been the only way, but it surely doesn't feel like the right way because what happens now? How could the situation possibly get better from _this_? If only Tony got those details written down.

They say that it's better to not feel pain when you die - make it instant. Tony wonders if he preferred to perish in Thanos' snap than this. At least that way, he would've been gone in a second and not slowly dying due to lack of resources. He wouldn't have to hear his mind eat away at itself, echoing the events before the snap and finding ways that this could've been avoided - hearing that it was all his fault.

Tony lets out an exhale as he rests his head against the cold metal wall of the spaceship's interior. He closes his eyes and lets his mind wander… _drift_ … The last thing a dying person hears is their own heartbeat. Tony's pulse is currently, thumping, pounding, drumming against his ears like someone knocking on a door.

The odd thing is that the knocking doesn't stop. In fact, it's not even coming from his heart but from somewhere else on the ship, somewhere _outside_ the ship.

Tony opens his eyes and perks up, looking all around. It's dark so he can't see much and he's defenceless so he's vulnerable. Tony turns around and scoots back, looking at the window of the spaceship. His heart almost comes back to life with so much adrenaline at once that he felt revived for that moment of time. He sees something outside of the window. He squints his eyes and tries to make out what is there.

The shape of it looks like a human but its body is traced in this bright gold as if it was glowing. From the light it emits, Tony can see something that resembles a uniform. It was a full body suit that looked to be dark blue from the bottom down and going up, it had a yellow line that pivoted like two triangles and made a big star at the centre of the chest and bottom of the two triangles. Above that, it was red. Tony can see a red helmet with a yellow rectangle on top that resembled a mohawk.

The thing out there knocks on the window, its hands moving all over the place as if it was looking for a way to get inside. Tony continues scooting back, keeping his eyes on it. He grabs his helmet and holds it close to his chest.

Then, it locks its glowing eyes with him and Tony feels his heart stop again.

It disappears and Tony can hear it flying underneath the ship, knocking all around to try and get in. Tony shakes his head repeatedly as he scrambles around to try and find something to help himself.

Nothing.

"Ah, hell…" Tony mutters. "I thought suffocation would get me first."

His head perks up as he hears a door open, a few seconds pass, and it closes again. _It's here._ Tony scoots back the other way, all the way back to the window where he first saw it. Thank god the little oxygen he had left was sealed in this room. He hugs the helmet to his chest as tight as he can, bringing his knees up to there as well. He hides his face behind the helmet, waiting. Maybe if he's quiet, it won't find him.

Footsteps come closer and closer, and suddenly, they stop.

Because it's here, inside. The glow almost blinds him so he raises a hand above his eyes to shield the light.

It stops as it sees him and the glow dims down into nothing so Tony lowers his hand. They're in darkness again with the only light source coming from the stars outside. Tony exhales, feeling more alive than he did for a while mostly because his body is probably using the slim resources he has left to compensate for fear. He continues to try and scoot back even though he's already right up against the edge. His breathing intensifies and his chest heaves up and down.

"Please, spare me…" Tony begs mercifully as tears start to form in his eyes. They glimmer in the small light there is. "I am sorry for intruding in your galaxy if I am. My ship is drifting and I'm about to as well. I don't know where I am and I'm going to run out of oxygen soon. Can you help me?"

There's no response. Tony trembles as it continues to just stare at him with a seemingly blank expression, getting a good look at him. _Was it a robot?_

Then, the helmet disappears as if it pixilated away through a sheet of blue energy. The yellow part falls and becomes blonde hair that wraps around a human face. Tony finds himself looking into the eyes of what seems to be a human. Still, the expression is inanimate. If Steve was an alien or robot woman, this would be him. Patriotism and all.

Tony finds himself more at ease to stand up so he tries to, keeping his helmet close to his chest. However, he struggles to get up on his feet due to the lack of food, water, and energy. He stumbles a little, feeling a bit of vertigo but it quickly passes. Tony leans against the wall to support himself. It takes a step closer to him but stops when Tony jerks a little out of a gut reaction of panic.

"You're from Earth?" It - or she asks as if it or she already knew the answer.

It sounds so human, so womanly. Maybe it was a robot or an alien shapeshifter. Or maybe he was so out of it that this is just a hallucination. Or most likely, he was already dead and this was his afterlife. He pinches his arm and it's still there so maybe, this was his reality.

"Are - are you human?" Tony asks, his voice trembling a bit.

She blinks before nodding. "From Earth, a long time ago."

"Who - who or what are you? I'm Tony - Tony Stark. Iron Man, Avenger."

"Captain Marvel," she replies (Tony is almost certain that he's not talking to a robot). "Or Colonel Carol Danvers of the US Air Force back in the 90s, if that makes you feel better. I was a human but then, I almost died so the Kree took me in and transformed me into this. They made me into a Noble Kree Warrior Hero."

Tony takes a while to process that - he's been through so much in so little time and yet, this was still hard to swallow. He could only assume that Kree was an alien species that he just had to accept without any further questions. It wasn't the alien part of the story that his mind couldn't function, it was the fact that she said the 90s. That means that she has probably been in space since then and for this whole time as well.

"Tell me now because I won't ask again, what happened on Earth?" Her domineering stance is threatening for him.

"Not just Earth. Thanos snapped half of the universe out of existence," Tony admits, still not believing it himself even though he witnessed it disappear. Those words still bring shivers down his spine.

Carol's face loosens up a little, almost as if that affected her in some way. Well, it must have because Earth was once her home and she was in the US Air Force so she was once a defender of it. Keyword: _once_. Now, she was in space and even though Tony doesn't know her whole story, he doesn't know her motives and isn't sure if he can trust her.

Tony clears his throat. "So, you've been around. Okay, Carol, let me ask you this - where the hell were you when aliens known as The Chitauri invaded New York?"

Carol takes a quick breath. "Earth and I had a falling out."

"Why?"

"Long story."

"Then, why are you suddenly back?"

"Your world wasn't the only one that had its population decreased in a matter of seconds. I thought it was just mine but then, I got a message on this."

Carol unhooks a small device out of her belt and passes it to him. Tony takes it and holds it up to the window to try and get as much light on it as he can. Carol lights up one of her hands to help him out. Tony isn't quite sure what it is it but if she got a message on it, it was probably a communicator of some sorts. It looked old, like from the 90s which was her era. And it seemed like it was from Earth, where she was in the 90s. The device has a sticker of the same star crest that is on the chest of her uniform.

"I was told to only come back to Earth if this went off," Carol says. "That meant that the end of the world was coming if it wasn't already there. I never expected it to ever go off. In fact, I forgot I even had it until it beeped. I didn't believe the sound mostly because it's been decades. And then, my people and animals around me were becoming dust in the air.

Tony lowers it and turns back around to face her as Carol lowers her hand, turning it off. He looks at the device in his hands and still sees them covered in ashes from when Peter dissipated in his own hands. At least when it was dark, he couldn't see - _Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good_ \- and then he thinks about Quill, Dr. Strange, Drax, Mantis all disappearing before his eyes as well - _I don't know what's happening -_ Those were only the smallest fraction of the damage Thanos has done. Tony had no idea of what happened on Earth or even the rest of the goddamn universe. He isn't sure who is still out there that can help - _I don't want to go, please spare me_ \- And then, he became alone on a drifting spaceship where his worst fear became his reality - _Please, I don't want to go._

A single tear rolls down Tony's face, but what good will that do?

"Tony - "

"How can I trust you?!" Tony says, starting to lash out on her. All of what just happened has finally caught up with him. "I don't know or understand you. You're just another alien that came out of nowhere, probably just claiming to have connections to a planet that I and a team of others have been protecting while you have been hiding in the stars. You could've helped with New York…you - you could've at least _tried_ to have stopped Thanos from getting the stones and putting on that gauntlet just to snap half of it all away! What gives you the right to show up _now_?!"

Carol says nothing at first. She holds out her plain human hands that are shielded in an alien uniform out towards him, showing and doing no harm. Her movements are slow as Tony's rage simmers. She cups her hands around his, easing into his resistance towards her. She pushes up his own hands, emphasizing the - _I don't want to go_ \- communicator she showed him. She makes her hands luminate a little, emphasizing her point.

"Tony, I will never ask for your trust," Carol says. Something in her eyes makes him believe that. "We don't have the time to establish trust. It is a waste of our resources to depend on trust at the moment. Right now, I just need your hope."

"I'm assuming you had allies on Earth before your falling out," Tony says, handing her back her communicator when she lowers her hands. "Who gave you this?"

"Nick Fury."

Tony looks up at her with shock even though it all made sense. Out of all people, it just had to be Nick Fury because when was it _not_ Nick Fury? He's the one with all the secrets, contacts, and secret contacts. That was one man who could transcend time and be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Tony wants to believe that for that reason, Fury survived the snap. But if he dialled his emergency contact for the first time in decades, maybe he didn't.

"Do you know how to stop Thanos?" Tony asks.

"We'll figure something out," Carol replies.

Tony nods, accepting that answer because that is more of an idea than what he had. "Might I ask, how powerful are you?"

Carol tops off her small scoff with a grin. "I'm the reason Fury lost an eye."

That was all the answer he needs to show Carol's power. Sure, he's seen her glow an immense light and fly around in space, but that is what sealed the deal.

"Let's get out of here before you stop breathing," Carol says as her helmet forms around her head again. Her entire body starts to glow. "Sit tight and hold onto something. Don't die on the way home."

Tony suddenly grips his chest, suddenly feeling it contract. "No, wait - Carol - !"

Tony falls to the ground, having trouble breathing. Carol kneels to the ground beside him, making her hand glow to get a look at his dropping vitals. She looks on her belt and pulls out an oxygen device. She puts it on top of his face and it pixelates, spreading out and around his body. It looks like a sheet of translucent fabric is wrapped all over him. This would help him breathe for the journey home. Tony's vision blurs but he can still make out and feel what is happening. He feels Carol lift him in the air, putting his helmet on his chest to bring along (he's grateful for that). Carol blasts the window into shards and then, her entire body glows and they take off at top speed.

Tony watches all the stars go by him in small blurs combining as one. For the first time in what felt like forever, he smiles. It almost felt like a strange and unknown sensation for him, but it was genuine. He doesn't feel like dying; he doesn't feel _defeated_.

You think the world is one way, then you find out that it's stranger and bigger than you imagined. What you thought was a present notion turned out to be there for a while but just in the depths of space. If you can't expand your thinking, you won't survive. Girls are a revolutionary soul force that can change the world for real.

Tony is putting his hope in Carol even though he just met her and still has no clue who she actually is and the extent of her powers. But that's okay because in this case, hope is truly more powerful than trust. Hope is anything that makes you feel connected to the world and Carol is bringing him back to his. He can sense that she isn't here to just fight Thanos, she's here to _end_ him.

* * *

 **All it took to write this was my Monday night and the trailer soundtrack from** ** _Avengers Endgame_** **on loop. I seriously cannot wait to see Carol kick Thanos' ass out of existence. Speaking of Carol, I apologize if she is OOC. It's not like I had a lot to work with.**

 **I read more theories that said that Nebula was in the ship with Tony, but for the sake of the story, let's pretend that she wasn't here at all. Also, some theories say that Carol is behind the reason why Fury lost an eye (he said that the last time he trusted someone, he lost an eye and for all we know, it could've been that cat). So, this story was more or less based on theories…and I love that.**

 **This is the first _Avengers Endgame_ prequel that I have. The second one will be published in April 2019.**

 **Thank you to everyone who read this! Please let me know what you thought in the reviews. If you have a story idea that you want me to write, feel free to tell me and I might write it.**

 **~ MysteryGal5**


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